Taiwan President: Why Would China Not Take Back Russian-Occupied Lands?
31- 2.09.2024, 15:08
- 27,610
![Taiwan President: Why Would China Not Take Back Russian-Occupied Lands?](https://i.c97.org/ai/384091/aux-head-1593492716-202020630_china_t.jpg)
Lai Ching-to recalled the 1858 Treaty of Aigun.
If Communist China is so keen on territorial integrity that it is preparing to invade Taiwan, it should return the vast lands that Russia took from it in the 19th century, Taiwan President Lai Ching-to said, Reuters Reuters.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. In this context, President Lai, whom China calls a “separatist”, recalled the 1858 Treaty of Aigun, under which China ceded a huge territory north of the Amur River to the then Russian Empire.
“China wants to attack and annex Taiwan not because of what any person or political party in Taiwan says or does. China does not want to annex Taiwan for territorial integrity. And if it is for territorial integrity, why doesn’t it return the lands occupied by Russia, which were stipulated in the Treaty of Aigun? Russia is now in its weakest state. You can ask Russia [to return the land], but you don’t. So, it is obvious that they do not want to invade Taiwan for territorial reasons,” Lai said.
According to the Taiwanese president, the real reason for a potential Chinese attack on the island is that China wants to destroy the current rules-based world order and establish its hegemony in the Western Pacific.